Federico Luppi Movies

This surreal variant on the classic vampire tale is the directorial debut of Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who garnered international acclaim and several awards. The film tells the story of elderly antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi, in a role originally written for Max Von Sydow) who, with his eight-year-old granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath), discovers an ancient artifact secreted within a statue obtained from the estate of a 16th-century alchemist. Unbeknownst to Gris, the device -- which resembles an ornate, gilded mechanical beetle -- houses an immortal parasite which will grant eternal life to its host. Naturally, there is a terrible price for this gift, which Gris is doomed to discover after the object anchors itself to his body. He begins to develop an extreme aversion to daylight, as well as an agonizing thirst for human blood. To compound matters, dying millionaire Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook) has learned of the device's existence -- thanks to an occult tome obtained from its inventor -- and wishes to obtain it for his own use. To this end he employs his vain, brutish nephew Angel (Ron Perlman) to retrieve it for him. Angel's techniques are less than subtle, and he inevitably winds up killing Gris in his futile search for the artifact... but death is not permanent for the host of the Cronos, and he rises from the mortuary slab to reunite with the long-suffering Aurora. Together they confront de la Guardia and his nephew one last time, hoping to find a way to reverse the horrible process before Gris suffers the same monstrous fate as the device's creator. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

These days, most people tend to forget that silent films were truly a universal medium, transcending boundaries of language, nationality and race. In this story an older woman, whose main entertainment is the silent cowboy films of Tom Mix, lives with her nephew. She seems to live the stories in the films almost as much as she lives her outer life, and she initiates a young boy into her mythological world when he comes to visit the family. Since her family disapproves of her fantasy life, she has to sneak out to get to the movies and watch her beloved hero in action, and they are dismayed that she is polluting their young visitor's mind with her foolishness. The town she lives in suffers from occasional visits by marauding banditos, and she writes to Tom Mix to ask him to help them out. However, by the end of the movie, she and some locally grown heroes sort things out on their own. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This film is carefully designed to please local fans of the beloved Argentine stand-up comedian, stage performer and magician Florencio Parravicini. His stage name was "Flop." Florencio's father was a prison director, and he was raised among prisoners from the age of seven. Moments from the performer's stage shows are interspersed with shots showing his backstage life, and flashbacks which illustrate his early life. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Maria (Liv Ullmann) and her actress friend Raquel (Cipe Lincovsky) react differently when both of their children are missing and presumed dead at the hands of military terrorists. Raquel moves to Berlin, while Maria continues the search for her missing child. She continues her search after the oppressive military regime is ousted, still hoping her child is not among the many dead. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

After a lifetime of playing it safe, a married bank employee decides to ditch his previous life and embark on a career as a financial speculator and single man. At first his ex-wife has a difficult time of it, but she begins a business of her own which succeeds magnificently. The speculator's daughter has her own troubles, as she is being pursued by a man who appears to be simply an aging womanizer, though over time other facets of his character emerge. The self-liberated banker himself is having a high old time, enjoying risks (and a younger woman) in ways he couldn't have imagined before. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A suspenseful adventure yarn that climaxes in all-out action at high noon, this taut tale is about an Argentine writer jailed in Bolivia for political reasons and then released when a new and liberal government takes over. He is now on a train home that is due to arrive at the Bolivian/Argentine border at midday. The catch is that a fascist general who has vowed that the writer will never go home again is waiting for him at the border town with a phalanx of armed men. Into this potential disaster walks an innocent geologist (Bernard Giraudeau) who first tries to avoid the ominous situation and then gets hopelessly involved. The writer's pretty daughter (Claudia Ohana) is also on hand to meet her father. She and the geologist are thrown together by circumstances, but a romance is not in the cards and not in the script either. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Nightmare's Passengers is based on a true story that for several months in 1981 was splashed all over Argentina's front pages. The horribly mangled bodies of a prominent married couple are discovered in the trunk of a car. The sons of the victims are interrogated, and in flashback the younger son (Gabriel Lenn) tells "all." The boys' father (Federico Luppi) was a well-connected executive and secret homosexual; the mother (Alicia Bruzzo) was an alcoholic who sought an incestuous relationship with her sons. While the film never answers the question as to who committed the murder (no verdict had been reached at the time of filming) it devotes plenty of screen time to the depraved lifestyle of the victims--and also condemns the military junta then running Argentina, which allowed certain privileged people to behave as aberrantly as they wished so long as they were loyal to the junta. Originally titled Pasajeros de Una Pesadilla, Nightmare's Passengers was based on the book by Pablo Schoklender, the real-life younger son in the actual case. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The apparent ease with which Argentina's political situation could degrade into extremists killing each other is illustrated in this interesting fictional allusion to historical reality. Suprino (Hector Bidonde), a local Peronist boss in the small town of Colonia Vela, schemes with the county mayor and a union leader to get the deputy mayor Fuentes (Federico Luppi) out of power - even though the Peronist is indebted to Fuentes. Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant because of the assistant's leftist sympathies - and he refuses. That evokes a harsh response from Suprino (the Peronist), who now has the police chief intervene for him. But Fuentes, rather than cave in to pressure, barricades his office, lines up men to stand by him, and gets ready for the first police assault. Leftist students then kidnap the police chief demanding that the attack on Fuentes stop - but their actions only serve to escalate the now raging conflict into a minor civil war. In the end, the film makes it clear that survival may be the only criterion determining who wins - which creates a village of losers, including the political process. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The crazy economic situation in Argentina after the 1976 financial reforms is highlighted and panned by this tragi-comedy on the lifestyles of the soon-to-be rich and infamous. Carlos Bonifatti (Federico Luppi) and Rubén Molinuevo (Julio de Grazia) are good friends married to sisters. They have a joint business which makes medicine chests -- that is until Taiwanese imports (now cheaper due to the reforms) turn them bankrupt. Rubén suffers the most because it was his talent that went into making the chests. Carlos, meanwhile, jumps at the chance to run a real estate and loan company when a friend of his offers him the position. He lives the good life that all up-and-coming Argentines enjoyed -- Miami shopping junkets, new homes and cars, the latest gadgets, and a new lover -- until he belatedly discovers he was used by his supposed friend, who has now taken off with all the company's money and Carlos' lover as well, to go live in the United States. Carlos eventually finds out he was duped by his friend, and he must face the consequences. The effect of the economic environment on personal relationships is painted with a sure hand, suggesting that even the mildest of citizens is affected when only money drives the society. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

After she shot the man who killed her father, the woman in this film was sentenced to seven years in prison. Her husband faithfully awaited her, and the movie explores their lives together and apart, their joy at being reunited, and their eventual estrangement. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi